Toyota Australia is giving serious consideration for a bid to launch the ultra-luxury Century brand locally, with senior Lexus bosses allocated responsibility for analysing the business case.
“Because it is going to be positioned above [it], Lexus will take the lead on that vehicle,” Toyota Australia vice president of sales and marketing Sean Hanley told Chasing Cars.
Pictured: Toyota Century SUV
“Century needs very specialised attention, but there is a market in Australia, and hopefully, over the foreseeable year or two, we will be able to make a case for it. It is certainly not confirmed to my knowledge for Australia, but I think we should study it,” Hanley said.
Toyota global chairman Akio Toyoda used a keynote speech at the 2025 Tokyo Motor Show to announce that not only was the brand’s flagship Century line becoming an independent brand above Lexus, but that Century would also be sold abroad.
Until now, Century models were essentially restricted to very limited sales in the Japanese market only, where the phoenix-badged luxury cars are held in very deep esteem.
Pictured: Toyota Century SUV
Now, Toyota will audaciously attempt to pit Century’s lineup—consisting of a large, traditional sedan, a luxury SUV, and a forthcoming raised coupe model—head-to-head with Rolls-Royce and Bentley in selected overseas markets.
Lexus Australia chief executive officer John Pappas has been given responsibility to evaluate Century’s suitability for the local market.
“We are currently studying whether the Century brand has a place in the Australian market to complement the Lexus brand,” Pappas told media including Chasing Cars.
Pictured: Toyota Century sedan
“It is very small [production] because it is handmade. They are fully customised. If we saw an opportunity where we felt like this would sit within our market in order to complement the Lexus brand and the whole Toyota family, we would definitely be looking at it,” said Pappas.
It is still early days, and questions such as whether Century would leverage the growing Lexus dealer network in Australia have not been resolved.
Lexus Australia will simultaneously work through a brand pivot of its own as the premium arm of Toyota pursues ‘new luxury’ shapes and ideas, leaving more conservative formats to Century.
Pictured: Toyota Century sedan
The Tokyo Motor Show saw the unveiling of two radical Lexus LS flagship concepts, with the current three-box sedan format set to be abandoned in favour of either a luxury van, a coupe-SUV, or both.
While the global Century announcement came as something as a surprise, senior Toyota Australia officials have known about the plan for some time.
“I didn’t know its positioning [as a brand above Lexus] until recently, but I’ve known about the Century [plan] for a while, yes,” said Toyota boss Hanley.
Pictured: Toyota Century SUV
Natural markets for the Century will include the Middle East and other Asian countries, though Toyota North America is also understood to be interested.
The ultra-luxury market in Australia is very small but makes like Bentley and Rolls-Royce, like Century, do not rely on or even necessarily desire high volumes.
Throughout the first nine months of 2025, Bentley has sold 95 vehicles in Australia—most of them Bentayga SUVs or coupes—while Rolls-Royce has delivered 50 cars, half of them being Cullinan SUVs.
